


At The Wedding

by HappyCatTaxi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drama, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Not Epilogue Compliant, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24059791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyCatTaxi/pseuds/HappyCatTaxi
Summary: Harry makes some startling discoveries about his feelings for his best friend Hermione.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter
Comments: 12
Kudos: 78
Collections: Harmony For Essentials Gift Exchange





	At The Wedding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lorbie05](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorbie05/gifts).



> This story was written for Harmony For Essential Workers, a Harmony & Co Gift Exchange. It was gifted to Lorbie05, an essential worker during the Corona crisis. Thank you for your work! 
> 
> The selected trope was "Friends to Lovers", which is not a trope I have much experience with writing, but I hope you still enjoy this story. 
> 
> Characters, plots, dialogue, and situations from the Harry Potter series belong to JK Rowling. 
> 
> The story was betaed by Coffee Reveries. Thank you so much for all your help :)

The sun was shining high in the sky, providing a delightful backdrop to the festivities going on on the lawn in front of the Burrow. The wedding of Lavender Brown to Ron Weasley was a great success. The entire extended Weasley family and their friends had come together to celebrate and join in the festivities to wish the couple much happiness. Around the field tables were set with food and drinks. The dance floor at the center was widely used, and laughter filled the air. 

Harry Potter was sitting at a table with a glass of Firewhisky, taking a well-deserved break from his best man duties. His eyes drifted to Hermione, his best friend, who was speaking with some of the other guests. 

“I noticed you arrived with Hermione,” Luna said, interrupting his thoughts and sitting down next to him with a glass of wine, “looking _quite_ cosy.”

Harry acknowledged her with a smile and a nod, “We’re just friends, Luna.” 

They hadn’t actually planned to go to the party together but Hermione had recently split up from her boyfriend of six months, and was loath to go to the wedding alone. Harry, on the other hand, had been planning to go solo since he knew he’d be busy helping Ron.

His eyes drifted to the dance floor where Hermione was now dancing with Seamus Finnigan. She laughed as Seamus swung her around with more determination than skill. Seeing her enjoyment brought a smile to Harry's face. 

“Don’t you think it’s about time you took it to the next level?” Luna asked, sipping her wine. 

Harry whipped his head back to look at Luna, who was smiling far too innocently. “What do you mean?” 

She cocked her head to the side, her pale grey eyes observing him minutely. “You two have been dancing around each other for years,” she said after a moment, giving him a lofty smile. “Clearly you have feelings for her.”

He blinked a few times, as his mind tried to process what Luna had just said. It was not the first time someone had questioned him about his relationship with Hermione, in fact, normally he was able to dismiss it. 

Obviously they were not lovers and never would be. They were best friends, and it was quite possible to be best friends with someone of the opposite gender without it revolving around sex. 

Harry should just laughed it off like usual, but he couldn’t. Could it be—?

He coughed on his Firewhisky, and it took a few tries before he got his breathing under control again. 

_No_ , him having _feelings_ for Hermione was too preposterous to even consider. Hermione was… she was—

“No!” He slammed his glass down on the table with more force than intended. She was his best friend and best friends did not think like _that_ about each other! “We’ve been friends for years,” he said after calming himself, “but she’s like a sister to me.”

“A sister you want to have sex with,” Luna countered with a laugh. “That’s not brotherly love.”

Harry was dumbfounded and just stared at Luna for a moment. “That’s a crazy thought.” 

Luna made a snorting sound. 

“I’ve never thought of her like that!” He defended himself.

“Really?”

“Really!” But then Harry did. He turned his gaze back to Hermione who was now dancing with Charlie Weasley. Her eyes, which had never seemed remarkable to him before, shone with a brightness he had never seen previously. They were so full of laughter, but all he could think about was how they would look when she felt desire run through her body. Would her eyes darken when he teased the shoulder of her periwinkle dress down, letting it slip to the floor. He was mentally kissing her, when he suddenly remembered where he was. 

He looked up and realized Luna was watching him with a look of both amusement and knowing.

He had forgotten himself. He felt flustered by his own thoughts, his palms were slightly sweaty, his heart was beating faster, and he could feel a very clear sign of his wayward thoughts pressing against the front of his pants. 

He admonished himself for letting his thoughts wander, but he couldn’t help acknowledging a simple yet mind-blowing fact: he wanted Hermione. 

His breath caught. 

_He wanted her_. Pure and simple. He wanted all of her, her friendship _and_ her love. His heart beat faster just thinking about it.

By Merlin, he was in love with his best friend!

“I’m happy to see you are finally realizing it,” Luna said, observing him closely. “You’ve been ignoring it for much too long.”

He was unable to form even a single proper sentence, as the idea of being in love with Hermione shook him to his core. He felt unsettled. 

With a groan he placed his head in his hands. This could not be happening! He could not be having these thoughts! 

Not now. 

Not here.

Not ever! 

This was _Hermione_ for Merlin’s sake!

She had been his constant for years. When the world tipped and changed around him time and time again, she had been his rock, his support. She had stood by him through everything he had had to face. With her by his side, nothing in life had ever seemed terribly bad. 

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Luna asked. 

“Nothing,” he said flatly. What could he do? If he said anything to her, it would destroy their friendship, and she was too important to risk that. “It would destroy everything if I said anything.”

“You don’t know that,” Luna reasoned. “She could be in love with you too.”

Harry looked up, feeling hopeful, but he quickly averted his gaze from Luna. There was no chance Hermione might be feeling the same as he did. He swallowed, his eyes finding focus somewhere across the lawn. It took a moment for him to realise he was looking at Hermione again. She was still dancing with Charlie, but weren’t they dancing just a bit _too_ close together? And why was Charlie’s hand so low on her back?

“Oh, Merlin,” he choked out. He was jealous of Charlie Weasley for dancing with Hermione! 

Dammit, he was deeply in love with Hermione, and he had no idea what to do about it. 

…

Harry fled to the living room of the Burrow. It was deserted as he had hoped. He had made his way there hoping for some solitude to calm his mind. His heartbeat was finally slowing, and as long as he did not see _her_ , he felt he might be able to get his body under control again. 

_Deep breaths_ , he told himself as he sat on the sofa with his head in his hands. 

“Harry?” 

He looked up, startled, so lost in the tumult of his thoughts that he had not seen her come in. Hermione was standing in the doorway. The light that streamed into the room illuminated her, making her glow almost like a heavenly creature. Her hair was falling around her face like an unruly halo. His eyes dipped down the line of her neck to the hollow over her collarbone, exposed by the cut of her dress. She looked beautiful, and so very kissable. 

Her lips, Harry realised, were utter perfection, full and pink, and with just the right sort of curve. He thought about how much he wanted her, of how much he wanted to bring her pleasure. He wanted to see her shudder with desire, feel her legs wrapped around him as he buried himself inside her. 

Desire leapt inside him, forcing him to shift uncomfortably on the sofa. He could feel the colour rising on his face as he realised he was getting aroused just from the sight of her. 

Quickly, he averted his eyes. He could not even look at her without his thoughts turning on him. Merlin, how was he going to keep this up? He glanced at her again and winced. 

Hermione walked further into the room, looking at him with a bemused expression. 

“Luna said you were not feeling well,” she trailed off, sitting beside him on the sofa. “You really look terrible.”

Harry didn’t move for a moment. He couldn’t. He knew she was only trying to bring him comfort, but even her mere presence fuelled his desire. She was so close and he could feel the warmth radiating from her body.

“Did you drink too much Firewhisky?” 

“No,” he croaked.

“Tell me what’s wrong then.”

“I can’t tell you,” he muttered, but she kept pressing him, and this was Hermione, his best friend, and he’d never kept secrets from her before. He let out a breath and then, even though he hated to do so, he responded, “Romantic troubles.”

She stared at him for a few moments. “Luna did mention something like that,” she said casually, perhaps a bit _too_ casually. 

“Luna told you?” he asked, shocked. Why did Luna have to interfere? Didn’t she realise she would destroy everything?

“Yeah,” Hermione replied, her voice firm. Then she turned towards him with a frown, “She said you were thinking we could not be friends anymore, but that obviously cannot be true.”

He really wished he could remain _just_ friends with her but if he had any hope of doing that he needed to find a way to calm his mind. Just the sight of her sent his mind reeling with thoughts of all the things he longed to do to her in bed, and out of bed too.

“I can’t, Hermione, not right now,” he admitted, defeated, his voice utterly devoid of emotion. He turned away from her, but not before he saw the colour drain from her face. 

Then there was the tiniest sound, a cross between a sniffle and a sob. He turned abruptly to look at her. She sat huddled, hugging her arms around herself and trying very hard not to cry. “Did I do something wrong?” her voice hardly above a whisper. 

Merlin, it _hurt_ to watch her like this and what broke his heart was knowing he was the reason she was hurting. He swallowed, searching for words to make this right. He knew he had to say something. 

“No, you didn’t do anything. It’s me... I just need some time to figure out everything. I’m really sorry.”

Hermione snorted with disbelief, “You’re sorry? That’s all you have to say?” She curled her lip and glared at him. “We have been friends for thirteen years,” she snapped, as she rose from the sofa and began to pace the room. Her hands were clenched into angry fists. Slowly she turned her eyes toward him. “We’ve been through so much together - we faced Voldemort and lived to talk about it! And you want to throw all that away because you’ve fallen in love with some _trollop_?”

“What trollop?” Harry asked, startled. 

He couldn't even begin to imagine what she was talking about. He needed some time to figure out how to be just friends with her what with his newly discovered feelings complicating everything, and here she was going on about some trollop. _What was going on?_

She stopped pacing to look at him, the look in her eyes distrustful, her mouth an implacable line. “That… that _woman_!” she clarified. 

Harry just stared at her. She looked beautiful when angered, he noticed, but he still didn’t understand what she meant. “What woman?”

“The woman you’ve fallen in love with, of course,” she raged, giving him a withering glare. “The woman you’ve decided is more important than our friendship!”

His mouth fell open and he stared at her in shock. _That_ was what she thought? 

“But—”

“How can you love someone so despicable?” she demanded, interrupting him.

“You are not despicable,” he replied. 

She gave him a flat stare. “I know _that_ ,” she flung back. “So why couldn’t you have fallen in love with me instead?”

He shook his head, unable to believe her words. He almost laughed at the absurdity of it. 

She was jealous! And jealous of herself, apparently. 

A bubble of laughter burst from his throat. 

“Are you _laughing_?” she asked, staring at him in bewilderment. “This is not a laughing matter!”

He rose from the sofa and walked over to her. 

“Listen to me,” he urged, taking one of her hands in his. “Hermione, the woman is you.”

She blinked, surprised, and her voice was tiny and bewildered when she replied. “What?”

“The woman I have fallen in love with,” he clarified, “is _you_.”

“ _Oh._ ” Her lips formed an O and then froze in that position until it turned into a frown. “But… but then why can’t we be friends?” She looked utterly adorable, as she stood there looking confused and uncertain.

“I am in love with you, and I’ve found I can't be _just_ friends with you anymore.” He touched her cheek, his hand softly caressing her skin. “I want more.”

She went still, and he could see that she was startled, but she didn’t look angry anymore. Her eyes shone brightly as she smiled. 

“Hermione,” he whispered gently, and then he leaned in and kissed her. His hands sank into the thick tumble of her hair as his lips gently touched hers.

“Wait!” she gasped.

He pulled back immediately, and a nasty thought of having completely misunderstood her entered his mind.

“I’m in love with you, too,” she whispered. “You didn’t allow me a chance to say it.”

If he had had any hope of controlling his desire, it was lost then and there. He took her face in his hands and brought his lips to hers again. He kissed her with all the joy in his heart, and she clung to him with the same passion.

A noise from the doorway interrupted them, and they drew apart quickly, looking to what had surprised them. They saw Luna leaning against the doorway, smirking. “Looks like you worked it out,” she grinned, “and all it took was a little push.”

They looked at her, neither able to say anything. They had been caught kissing in the Weasleys’ living room. He could feel heat rising on his cheeks while Hermione buried her head in her hands. 

“I’ll make you excuses for leaving early,” Luna said, looking at them with an innocent expression. She must have taken some pleasure from their discomfiture, because her smile looked really rather smug. “You _are_ leaving early, aren’t you?” Before even waiting for a reply, she turned on her heel and walked out of the room with a clear spring in her step.

“How long do you think we have before everyone knows?” he asked, still looking to the doorway. 

“Not very long,” Hermione laughed. They both knew Luna would mention what she had seen to as many as would listen, and seeing as most of their friends were guests at this wedding, it would be quite a lot.

“Then let’s get out of here,” Harry whispered, gently stroking Hermione’s cheek. He leaned in to kiss her again, his lips seizing hers. He wrapped his arms around her, and apparated them away to somewhere private without further interruptions from scheming Ravenclaws. 


End file.
